Florham agrees to delay Exxon tract rezoning

Florham Park Mayor Barbara Doyle said Wednesday morning that
after receiving requests from the Chatham Borough Council and the
Chatham Township Committee, the Florham Park council had decided
Tuesday night "we are going to delay" action on the proposed
ordinance and will "postpone for 60 days," as officials in the
neighboring towns had asked.

The public hearing and final vote on Florham Park's proposed
Planned Office District (POD) ordinance for the Exxon tract was
scheduled for a regular meeting of the Florham Park council 8 p.m.
next Tuesday, Dec. 18, in the Recreation Center off 111 Ridgedale
Ave.

Because the public hearing on the ordinance has been advertised,
Florham Park Borough Clerk Judy Beecher said Wednesday the council
will be required to open the hearing, but then would move to table
the ordinance. "That will kill it," Beecher noted.

Under state law, an ordinance cannot be introduced in one
calendar year and carried over to the following year. If there is
no vote on its adoption by the end o f the year, a proposed
ordinance expires. After the proposed POD ordinance is tabled Dec.
18, the Florham Park council will have to reintroduce it next year
and schedule a new public hearing.

The POD ordinance would regulate up to 2.1 million square feet
of commercial development at the 485-acre former Exxon tract in
Florham Park, which is bisected by Route 24 and borders Madison
along Ridgedale and Park avenues. The prospective development has
raised concerns in Madison and other neighboring towns about
traffic.

The POD ordinance would make most of the tract's potential
development contingent on a new interchange with Route 24. Since
this summer, the Madison Borough Council has been on record against
any such interchange.

In a 6-0 vote on Nov. 26, the Madison council approved a
resolution asking Florham Park to delay action on its ordinance for
60 days from the Dec. 18 hearing date, citing a need for more time
"to study the effects" of the proposed rezoning.

While the Florham Park council originally declined that request,
it was followed in recent days by two more such requests from the
governing bodies of Chatham and Chatham Township.

The Chatham Township Committee voted, 5-0, last Thursday to ask
Florham Park for a 60-day delay, and on Monday the Chatham Borough
Council followed suit, approving a similar resolution by a 5-0
vote.

Both resolutions resembled the one approved by the Madison
council, which argued the tract's rezoning "could seriously impact
the quality of life in the Madison community," and the council and
residents "require additional time" to study it and offer
changes.

The Chatham Borough Council's resolution further noted that a
Dec. 3 concept plan presentation by Gale & Wentworth of Florham
Park, one of the prospective developers, "has already raised
questions among the members of the Florham Park Planning Board and
among the neighboring communities about unintended consequences.'
'

Fate Of Buildings

The POD ordinance would allow the renovation or replacement of
600,000 square feet of existing Exxon office space on the tract,
plus the construction of a 250, 000-square-foot hotel/conference
center, without a new interchange. After hearing on Dec. 3 that the
developers would replace, not renovate, the Exxon buildings in a
Phase One for the tract, members of the Florham Park Planning Board
expressed concern about the fate of the vacant Exxon
buildings.

Chatham Borough's resolution concluded that Chatham "and the
other neighboring communities require additional time to study the
potential effects" of the rezoning "and to develop proper, positive
solutions for Florham Park to consider be fore adopting these
amendments."

Last Sunday, Florham Park Mayor Doyle noted her council had not
yet received any requests from the Chathams to delay action on the
ordinance, but added that if such requests were received, "I'm sure
we would respond. We responded to Madison."

On Dec. 4, Doyle informed Madison Mayor John J. Dunne by letter
that the Florham Park council had decided at that time "to move
forward" with the Dec. 18 hearing, noting the POD ordinance would
reduce the tract's development potential under current zoning by as
much as one million square feet.

Her letter to Dunne, however, also invited Madison
representatives to meet with their Florham Park counterparts in
advance of the Dec. 18 hearing to discuss concerns.

Doyle added on Sunday that the Florham Park council also
intended to "review the POD ordinance" and make sure it "covers all
the issues" and "addresses concerns that were expressed" when it
was introduced on Nov. 20.

Many of those concerns, voiced by Madison residents, focused on
a new Route 24 interchange and its potential to increase traffic on
local roads.

Madison residents also questioned a provision of the POD
ordinance that would al low the developers to transfer the right to
build 300,000 square feet of office space on the 225 acres of the
tract north of Route 24, which contain 132 acres o f wetlands, to
the 260 southern acres bordering Madison.

Madison officials took up Florham Park's offer of a conference
in advance of the Dec. 18 hearing. On Tuesday afternoon, Madison
Mayor Dunne, Council President Mary-Anna Holden and Councilman
George Hayman met with Florham Park Mayor Doyle, Councilman Samuel
McNulty and Administrator John Corica. Doyle, McNulty and Corica
all are members of the Florham Park Planning Board, which drafted
the POD ordinance.

On Tuesday night, Madison Councilman Hayman indicated concerns
over traffic dominated the afternoon discussion, and Madison
officials renewed their request for a delay in action on the POD
ordinance. Hayman said Florham Park officials entered the meeting
opposed to any delay, but left saying "they'd consider
it."

When the full Florham Park council met in a work session Tuesday
night, it did indeed reconsider Madison's request and the
resolutions from Chatham and Chatham Township, and agreed to
postpone action on the POD measure.

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